Industrial equipment for filling containers such as bottles or cans in beverage or brewery plants contain a difficult to clean filling area. Generally a filling valve is positioned above the container to empty contents from a rotating filling source. After filling, the container moves from the filling station towards a crowning or capper area and the next container to be filled is positioned under the filler valve to receive the contents from the machine. Over time, the filling station may become soiled with the filling contents and potentially broken glass or metal filings may also accumulate in the filling area.
In the past, a stationary arm spray manifold attached to a vertical stanchion was used to spray detergent or sanitizing agents onto the filling station to clean or sanitize it. The problem with the stationary arm spray manifolds is that the direction of detergent or sanitizing spray could not be easily changed to clean the interior portion of the filling valve directly above the containers to be filled. Since cleaning the reverse side of the valve is virtually impossible, to clean this portion, historically, the production line was stopped and the area was manually cleaned.
The present invention addresses the problem of cleaning the entire filling station automatically. In particular, detergent or sanitizing spray is directed to all points of the filling station without the need to manually clean beneath or behind the filling valve of the station.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning apparatus for cleaning or sanitizing the filling station, in particular, the filling valve of the filling station of an industrial filling machine. The apparatus has a movable arm spray manifold which may be mounted or coupled with a housing and is used to position the spray arm below the filling valve to direct a cleaning or sanitizing spray upward toward an interior area and reverse side of the filling valve. The movable manifold is then used to move the spray arm away from the filling station so that the filling production can resume with little interruption.
In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus is coupled with at least one stationary arm spray manifold to form a cleaning or sanitizing system which directs a sanitizing or cleaning spray onto both exterior and interior portions of the filling station.
A method for using the apparatus alone or in the cleaning system is also described.